More on Eastern Europe

I'm about to blog more about my Eastern Europe trip... you guys might get bored so I'm warning you now =p I'm keeping this to remind myself about what I did in the various cities I visited.

Vienna's such a cultural city. I really really loved it. On the second day in Vienna, we did a lot of sighteeing. We first had a really good breakfast: omelettes with ham just for 2.50 euros. Then we saw the city hall, theater, the Hofburg imperial palace which included the Sisi musuem and the royal apartnments. I really really like the Sisi portrait... I think she looks ethereal. Pity that she was such a melancholic empress. Anyway... moving on, we saw the outside of the State opera house as well.






There were two very impressive churches worth mentioning: St Stephen's church... very much like the cathedral in Barcelona. St Peter's was really fantastic.. it's a small replica of the Da Vinci church in Rome apparently. It was simply breathtaking... I can't wait to see the real one! Went to the Pratar amusement park where Ivan and Yuxian took the vertical shot ride... *shudder*




We had dinner at Grinzing... it was the best! We had pork knuckles and there was so much live music. The violinist would come over and wink at you teasingly... and the overall atmosphere was just so happy... you just feel like bobbing your head to the music. Songs like 'smoke gets in your eyes was playing.



On the fourth day in Vienna, we spent most of the time at Schonbrunn palace. Had a very informative tour around the palace... Schonbrunn's actually the summer residence of the royal family. Hofburg' the winter residence. We saw a total of 40 rooms in total and most of them were lavishly decorated. I saw more of Sisi too!



Went to the maze and got a little lot and the labyrinth just really tired us out. We saw the brazilian guys again! (such a small world) It was quite a surprise.. managed to exchange contacts and take a snapshop with them. Proceeded on to the Gloriette. The view from it was sooo good. It felt really peaceful there as well. Lucky Queen Maria Theresa... she had tea at the Gloriette all th time. We visited the royal zoo as well... apparently the oldest one in Europe. It wasn't as nice as the Singapore zoo though... but it was alright =)




Had dinner at the famous Schnitzel place. Had to walk quite a bit to get there... it was really worth it though. So cheap and good! The portions were enormous! We had to rush for a musical performance thereafter. It was an orchestra playing Mozard and Strauss pieces... a little ballet. I enjoyed the orchestra immensely... especially liked the piece with the trumpet guy haha. The ballt was disappointing though... SDC can do so much better!

Blogging from Prague

Whee! I get free internet service at the hostels =D I have so much to blog for this trip... mostly about the sights I've seen. It's my third day in Prague... and it's pretty nice. I prefer Vienna though... might be due to the not-so-sunny weather over here. Will blog about what I did yesterday... running out of time! I gotta eat brekkie soon ^_^

Day 2 in Prague

Had breakfast at the hostel... it wasn't very fantastic (pictures lie!) Encountered something interesting though... there was this british woman talking about how she saw a couple having sex in a dorm, with their best friend wanking just above them. Really crude eh? Some people can be sooo sick... ugh.

We saw the National museum first. It was quite a sight... kinda char though. I liked the fountain in front of it. Wenceslas Square was close to the museum... think it would be much nicer at night. It looked really colourful on a postcard... strangely, I didn't see a lot of shops lining it.

There was the Municipal house and powder gate. The Municipal house was lavishly decorated... kinda grand on the outside. It was quite out of place though... especially beside the powder gate. The gate, on the other hand, wasn't that bad (not like how the rest described it).

St James church was closed but we could peek in. I saw some of the paintings inside and they were really excellent. Reminded me of the St Peter's church in Vienna...

Old town Square was busy busy busy. Lots of tourists gathering around the astronomical clock. The clock was interesting... you see throngs of people trying to take photographs with it. We chilled at a restaurant at the square when it started raining... had some really good ravioli!

Tyn Church was closed too! (sundays are eeky) It looked pretty impressive on the outside. It seemed rather dark and gothic... close to looking haunting.

Went to Charles Bridge... my favourite! I really liked it... we could see the Prague castle on the bridge. There were make shift stalls on both sides of it... with artists doing caricatures for tourists. The atmosphere on the bridge was simply wonderful... I just felt really happy crossing it lol.

Bumped into Ming and Cheryl when we were heading to the St Nicholas Church. There were two other Singaporeans SMU graduates with them. THey had a guided tour so they covered quite a few sights (with informative narrations). They left for Krakow last night so I guess we'll only see them in Lund!

Blogging from vienna!

Budapest

First Day:

Checked into our hostel... and we visited the outside of a Jewish Synagogue. It was my first time seeing one. There was St Stephen's church too... grand on the outside.



We ended the day with a meal at the Blue Rose... had some really yummy hungarian food =D It was a three course dinner that was cheap and really satisfying... only eeky thing about the place was the service. The waitress wasn't exactly providing the best service.


We met two Brazilian econs graduates at our hostel. They're actually travelling just before doing their maters. Really cool people... very passionate about economics lol. One of 'em stayed in the UK for a bit so his accent was british (I really like it).

Second Day:

Walked over to the chain bridge... pretty! Climbed up to the Royal Palace... we wanted to save money so we didn't take the big elevator lol. Loitered around the flea market for a bit before heading to Mathyas church (really colourful roof and interior design) ... which was just situated beide the Fisherman's Bastion as well.





We saw really rich chinese people getting married at the Bastion... they had like a limosine and several other luxurious cars parked outside... it was insane. Ohhh there was the interesting Maziban museum as well... everything inside it was made from sugar. We managed to get into the St Stephen's Basilica... and it was as grand on the inside. It offered a really panoramic view of Budapest as well.




Had quite an experience at the baths as well... oooo nice warm jacuzzi waters *becomes dreamy* I had to rent some really ugly swimwear though. *cringe* There was some festival (I think it's labor day) going on in Heroes' Square as well.



Third day:

Finally visited the Jewish Synagogue before we left.

Anyway I just arrived in Vienna today. Ate schnitzel for dinner and it was rather disappointing. It wa just breaded pork chop lol. We ended up watching the AC milan and Man U match. I was kinda sad when Man U lost... no idea why -_- Maybe I'm an innate Man U fan!


The past two days in Budapest were really well spent. I absolutely adored the city. It had the most amazing architecture and it wasn't just the important buildings... every wtreet had one or two nice structures to marvel at. It was really different from the rest of the european countries that I've visited... it's less developed actually. We took rides in lao pok trains and the dodgy areas resembled some parts of Malaysia. However... the ambience was somewhat rustic and elegant at the same time.

Away once more

I'm going to eastern europe for 12 days! Won't be around... I think I'm gonna miss everyone. Not exactly very excited about the trip but I've heard good things about the places I'm going to. I shall go there with an open mind...

Will be heading to Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria), Prague (Czech Republic), Krakow & Warsaw (Poland). I hope it's gonna be safe in these areas...

I'm gonna missssssssss lunnnnnnnnd so much.

1pm ramblings

I went to T bar yesterday! We had a pre-party at spoletorp with the sparta people. I think we were kinda lazy to play games so we ended up picking up cards to determine who should drink (the lowest of course) We had the some vodka vanilla and johnny walker to drink... and whisky is eeky without coke! My alcohol tolerance level has really gone up. Not that I drink often... but when I do, I take quite a bit compared to the past. One bad thing: Now it's more expensive for me to get high hehe.

Anyway we joined the rest at T bar. They didn't open the entire club! We only had a teeny weeny place to dance -_- The music they played was weird too... I guess that's what you get for paying just 40 kronas. It wasn't that bad though... the company made up for it. The delphi people (with their corridor mates), elaine and yixin joined us so it was a big big group. I had another drink: white russian. It's quite nice actually... very milky... kinda like bailey's. It was so hard to get it lah! Paul had to squirm through the crowd to order... haha thanks.



As usual, yuxian and I were checking out the people *snicker* Quite a few cute swedes... but none drop dead gorgeous. haiii no more time to meet anymore! It was quite funny... we were just discussing how swedish guys are so different from singaporean guys. We were toying with the idea of making a video or presentation to portray the stark difference. Just a note: if you want to have beautiful, good looking children: marry a swede =p

*mull*

Well... I haven't been doing much. Just really enjoying my time in lund... (before I fly off for eastern europe on monday). Been hanging out with the sparta people... haven't seen the rest actually. I bought a few gifts yesterday... had ice cream in town -again-. I found myself fervently checking out hot babes and hunks. Time's ticking away at the most amazing speed. I really don't have that much time left in Sweden.

I miss my family and friends of course. And some very special people *wink* It just saddens me though... that I'm soon to leave this wonderful place. I've gotten used to living in lund... and I've managed to make new friends. I've become accustomed to taking care of myself... and I've learnt how to be laid back. It's going to be hard to let go of all this.

Sometimes I wonder if I've changed. And then there are other nagging questions... Will it be hard for me to communicate with my family and friends after being away for so long? Will I suffer from reverse culture shock when I'm back in Singapore? Will I lose my independence when I'm back to my sheltered life? A part of me really wants to go home... but yet there's this other part that's really scared as well.

Just to randomly quote my friend's quote =p

Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth.
For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures,
and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.

Room sweet room

I'm back in lund! Came back late last night... after an insanely long (eight hours mind you) bus ride from Stockholm. The trip was actually very free and easy. I think most of us are actually quite tired from all the travelling. I actually just want to stay in lund and relax. Anyway, stayed in this really cute cottage in the suburbs of Stockholm. It's not near the central... had to take a train from T-centralen to this place called Gustaplan and then take a bus to the place. We actually had to climb some rocks to get to our cosy lil house. The interior of the cottage was very nicely decorated though. It was very very homey.




We didn't do much on the first day... went to the city centre to do some shopping. Bought stuff from h&m and a really really nice dress from ginatricot (highlights of the trip). Just walked along the streets and went into shops like topshop and mango. Stockholm's a lot like copenhagen actually. I'm not a big city fan it seems. We met up with yixin's friend (jackson) at his hostel... he and his friend (duan) cooked dinner for us so we didn't have to waste money -_- (it's sooo expensive in stockholm... so glad I didn't end up in stockholm for exchange). The night didn't end off very well... for some reason, I had really bad gastric problems. I was in paaaain.




We did some sightseeing the second day... checked out the parliament and the different islands. I really enjoyed the glittering river waters of stockholm. It was nice to see the sunlight dance teasingly on the water. Ohhh another highlight of the trip (lol): we went to this really classy hotel for toilet break *chortle* and the washroom was just soooooooo luxurious lah! We actually spent quite some time in it haha.







We spent a great deal of time in this park called Skansen... ate my favourite cotton candy! =D We saw a couple of nordic animals like the elk and the swedish brown bear... we had fun chasing ducks too lol. It was so funny cause yixin tried catching the ducks (she was on a sugar high) and paul was intimidating them as well... I think we must have been really quite bored hee.




We didn't get to go clubbing in the ennnnnnnd =( We were all so dressed up but we couldn't get into any clubs cause they were really strict about IDs. They didn't accept ISIC cards so we didn't manage to party. Ahhh well. Guess we'll have fun this saturday at T bar.

Left for lund on Sunday... after hanging out with yixin when ivan and yuxian went for church service. Yup it was a really short getaway =) I'm just glad to be in my room!